Conventional electronic device manufacturing systems may include one or more process chambers configured to perform any number of substrate processes including, e.g., degassing, pre-cleaning or cleaning, deposition (e.g., chemical vapor deposition (CVD), physical vapor deposition (PVD), and/or atomic layer deposition), coating, oxidation, nitration, etching (e.g., plasma etching), and the like. Substrates may be semiconductor wafers, glass plates or panels, and/or other workpieces used to make electronic devices or circuit components. Substrates may be transferred between a process chamber and a transfer chamber through a chamber port assembly that may include, e.g., a slit valve. A chamber port assembly provides an interface between chamber ports of a process chamber and a transfer chamber. Undesirable particulate matter from chamber hardware may migrate to a substrate during a transfer of the substrate through a chamber port assembly. The undesirable particulate matter may adversely affect the processing of the substrate, which may render any electronic device and/or circuit component(s) fabricated thereon unusable.
Accordingly, improved apparatus, systems, and methods for transferring a substrate through a chamber port assembly are desired.